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Being first to market in the industrial automation space is no easy task, and involves creating new vocabulary, redefining technology territories and communicating technical messages in an easy to unde...

Being first to market in the industrial automation space is no easy task, and involves creating new vocabulary, redefining technology territories and communicating technical messages in an easy to understand manner. Invensys faced this challenge head on In 2006 when they introduced InFusion ECS as the world’s first Enterprise Control System. InFusion ECS was part of a Blue Ocean marketing strategy by Invensys, which means to create new market space or a “blue ocean”, thereby making the competition irrelevant. Although the launch was successful, trying to create a new market space in an engineering-driven market presented some very interesting challenges. Among the greatest challenges included:

driving a business value proposition in an technology-focused segment – a shift from product features to business solutions
overcoming the devaluation of the technology itself as a commodity and demonstrating the huge potential value of automation/information technology overall to the business;
driving a human empowerment theme in a market where automation replaces human power;
driving a collaboration between accounting and engineering, two functions that do not see eye to eye
showing the value of instrument and control engineering to an audience that has diminished those skill sets to a thing of the past;
sales channel disconnects; and
market message targeting.

Dr. Martin will share the journey that Invensys took for the launch of InFusion ECS from a sales and marketing perspective. He will expose the challenges, barriers and pitfalls and Invensys’ ongoing diligence and their continued persistence to overcome them and to thrive in a difficult industrial automation marketplace.